


Universe

by reydishii



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Inspired by Sword Art Online, M/M, Video Game AU, also i gave pidge a girlfriend, her name's ellie and i love her okay bye, lance has a cat named Blue, lots of time skips for a reason, they form clans or something idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-17 18:49:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11857509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reydishii/pseuds/reydishii
Summary: Lance, pressured by a friend, joins a game that highly resembles Sword Art Online.Oh, look, the plot of Sword Art Online is thrown in too.





	Universe

**Author's Note:**

> This took so much longer than it should have to complete... Sorry if it got really rushed in the end ;;
> 
> I blame Heathers.
> 
> ("Shut UP, Heather!!!1!")

When Lance McClain first made his account on the hit video game Universe, he didn’t know that it would change his future forever.

(Well, that was slightly dramatic. He did gain some awesome friends, though.) 

\--

“Universe?” Lance asked, cocking his head slightly. “Yeah, I’ve heard of it. What about it?”

“Have you actually tried playing it?” Lance’s classmate Nyma asked him. “It’s the best. It’s like that one cartoon. Knife Art Online, was it?”

“Sword Art Online- how do you get ‘knife’ out of ‘sword’ -Nyma, and why are you asking me about this? I have to get to my job in ten minutes. You know this.”

She grinned cheekily. “You can get a better job on there, y’know? A lot of people would pay to see someone like you on a pole-”

“For the last time, I’m not a slut, okay? That’s more of your jam.” Lance groaned. Why wouldn’t Nyma give him a break from everything slutty? He didn’t want to “show himself off”. He just wanted to get to know someone, dear god, Nyma. 

“Babe, it is so my jam. Do you know how much money I make in there?” Lance raised an eyebrow at her words. “Yeah, you should come and watch me sometime.” 

“Nyma, as much as I adore your blonde hair, you know I don’t swing your way.” Lance inserted his key into the ignition port in his car. “I have to go now, okay? I’ll think of signing up later.”

With that, he drove away from Nyma’s house, mind set on working his ass off until he could sleep. 

\--

“Universe, huh?” He asked himself when he sat down at his computer at the end of the day. “I guess I could download it, and see where it goes from there.” His cat, Blue, nudged his hand, waiting for him to pet her. He huffed at his (seemingly) attention-starved kitty. 

He glanced at the homepage of the app and pressed the ‘download’ button with his stylus. His StemNet beeped, showing that Universe had installed. 

Lance figured that he had a few hours to kill. He could manage to play this game for a while. 

Lance booted up the game and slipped on his StemNet.

The opening screen of the game came into view as Lance could feel himself slipping away from his physical state and into the game. ‘Universe’, the title read in bright white text. It faded away a few seconds later, replaced by a tall man in black clothing, his hair seemingly dyed white in the front. 

“Welcome to Universe,” the man greeted warmly. “My name is Shiro, and for the rest of your playing experience, I’ll be your mentor and guide.” Lance gulped at the sight of this man, lost for words. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t hot as hell.

“Do you have a username in mind, yet?” Shiro asked him. Lance reluctantly shook his head.

“Okay. Well’ have to make one for you to complete the sign-up process, though.” Shiro grinned at him. “For an example, my username is SpaceNautTakashi, which is a combination of my childhood hopes and dreams.” He shrugged. “I wanted to be an astronaut, and I named myself because of it.”

Lance glanced up at Shiro. “How exactly do I _make_ a username?” He asked.

Shiro waved his hand and a fairly transparent computer popped up. On the screen was a keyboard, ready to have the username entered into the game system. 

He looked at Shiro for approval, who waved him on. Lance grinned and maniacally typed in ‘the.tailor’, and fist pumped the air when he found that it was available. 

“’the.tailor’, huh?” Shiro asked him. Lance smirked and excitedly let out a “Yep!” before he drove Shiro to help him complete the rest of the sign-up process. 

Finally, after a half an hour later, he was ready to go and knew the basic mechanics of the game. Everything was fairly simple and easy to remember, and he was lucky that it was, since it seemed to Lance that he was going to be shoved out there on his own.

“I’ll see you around, Lance,” Shiro grinned at him. “If you ever need help, just press the ‘help’ button on the screen and I’ll answer your question as soon as I can.”

“Thank you!” Lance cried excitedly, as the welcoming lobby started to fade into grey.

\--

The first thing he did was accidentally bump into someone, send their stuff flying, and help the poor person up. Then, feeling very embarrased, he went to go look for a job board to save up for some Sol, which was the game’s form of currency. 

There were very few beginner-level jobs on the board, making Lance frown in frustration. Many of the jobs required a weapon or a specific item, or were guard requests, Clan invitations, or other jobs that seemed plain weird. Lance almost wanted to take the Clan invitations, but hesitated. Didn’t Shiro tell him that he could only join a Clan once? 

He decided that he would wait. 

For now, he settled on spending a good portion of his Starter’s Kit’s Sol to buy a book on native plants. Hopefully he could find a job where someone was looking for a specific plant, and they could pay Lance to go and find it for them. For now, he would try to find a job that beginners could do. 

Over half of an hour later, Lance had finally landed himself a job. It was one of the flyers that was about to be taken down, but he had spotted it just in time. True to his hopes, it was a job that needed some timon, a spice for a food that the job owner couldn’t access for some reason.

Lance clicked the ‘Accept Job’ button next to the description, and a menu appeared up next to his hand, very similar to Sword Art Online.

“Wave your hand to access this menu,” Shiro’s voice popped into his head. “This is a prerecorded message that will play the first time you open the menu. If you have any further questions, click the ‘Help’ button with my face on it, above the ‘Log Out’ button. Additional buttons will be added when you unlock the skill. Hope this helped.”

The first button was a ‘Profile’ button, displaying Lance’s play time and achievements. The second was his inventory, which held his plant guide. The third was his Sol count. The fourth was his level (which was 0, mind you) and how much exp he would need to level up. The fifth button was the one which the job went into, and Lance could open it easily with a touch of his hand. It showed the current job he had taken, and had slots for other jobs he could take as well. He exited out of the ‘Jobs’ screen. The sixth button was the ‘Help’ button, and underneath that was his ‘Log Out’ button. 

“This is awesome,” Lance muttered, a grin rising on his face. 

“Isn’t it?” Someone asked, making Lance scream and fall over. Nyma simply stood there, hands crossed, smiling at Lance. She was wearing some kind of skimpy crop top and shorts, presumably for her job.

“How the hell did you find me?” Lance breathed, trying to calm his pounding heart. “Is there a StemNet-syncing thing or whatever, because that was fast!”

“You caught me,” Nyma grinned. “I was just going to head to the job pretty soon. You should come watch.”

“Nah,” Lance said with a shrug. “I’ve gotta do this job for someone named-“ he squinted at his job list “-HGarrett. The job expires pretty soon, too, so I was just about to go.”

Nyma raised an eyebrow. “Oh, I’ve heard of Hunk,” she said. “He’s a pretty famous chef. Might wanna deliver that timon pretty quickly. It grows outside of the city walls. Just check right by the foundation. He lives right by the east entrance, too. Shouldn’t be hard to find.”

Lance whistled. “Thanks, Nyma. You didn’t have to help.”

Nyma shrugged. “Just helping you get a nice first start if you aren’t going to come see me perform. Might as well make good use of that time. See you later~!” She waved her hand at Lance and ducked into a nightclub across the street.

Lance set out for the east side of the city, comparing the sun’s position to the direction, and quickly walking over to where the east side was. He opened up his little book of plants, and quickly found that timon was a small, orange-stemmed flower. The job request didn’t say what part of the plant Mr. Garrett needed, so Lance figured that he would gather a few of the flowers, in case some extras were needed later. 

Lance soon found himself at the eastern gate, and quickly walked outside of it. There were indeed a few orange-stemmed flowers, and he quickly compared them to the ones in his book. They were an exact replica, and Lance picked seven of the flowers, delicately holding them in his hand, before going back inside the gate.

All of the houses seemed to have their owner’s name engraved on them. All he had to do was find the one with ‘Hunk Garrett’ on it, and he would be able to complete the job-

Speak of the devil.

Lance knocked on the door, and a shout came from within. “Come in,” He heard, and so he opened the door, and prepared to meet the infamous Hunk Garrett.

Inside was a man about his age, tan skinned and chubby, wearing an orange headband and hustling ingredients around a pot on the stove, looking very busy. He caught sight of Lance standing at his door, and greeted him with a wide smile. 

“Hey, Tailor!” He grinned, swishing some ingredients into his pot. “Do you have the timon or do you need help collecting it?”

Lance held up the timon in his hand, at a loss for words. 

“Perfect!” Mr. Garrett smiled, gesturing for Lance to come into his kitchen. Lance shrugged off his shoes, and entered.

“Do you have a name?” Mr. Garrett asked, and Lance quickly jumped to life. 

“Lance! It’s Lance. Lance McClain. Yeah. Um, hi? Also, why Tailor?” He held out a hand for Mr. Garrett to shake, and inwardly cringed at his firm grip. 

“I’m Hunk Garrett. Just Hunk is fine.” Hunk said. “Thanks for getting me the timon. I need it for a soup that I’m making for my Clan. I called you Tailor because that’s your username. Get it?” He grinned.

Lance relaxed slightly, cringing at himself for forgetting his username so easily. “Yeah, I get it.”

Hunk set the timon down, and pulled up his menu. He clicked his job board, and selected from a new menu, which Lance didn’t have yet. He selected the ‘Pay’ button, and Lance’s own menu was pulled up. He looked at his Sol, and found there to be 200 more. A ‘Notifications’ button was also added, his only notification being that Hunk had added 200 Sol into his Sol Count for completing the job. Lance glanced at his job list and found it empty.

“I’m guessing you’re new here, huh?” Hunk asked Lance. Lance nodded sheepishly, closing his menu. 

“I just joined the game about an hour or so ago. My friend helped me find where the timon and your house would be. Shiro said that my menu didn’t have some features available yet, so I guess that’s how you knew that I was new?”

Hunk’s eyes widened. “Your guide is _Shiro_!?” He exclaimed. “ _Duuuuude._ I never thought he would actually apply for mentorship! Aw, _man_!”

Hunk glacnced at Lance’s confused form and calmed down. 

“Sorry. Went a little insane there.” He chuckled. “Shiro’s a good friend of mine. We’re in the same Clan, and he never brought up mentorship. I just thought he’d never apply. He’s actually pretty shy around other people, so I thought he wouldn’t apply.”

Shiro definitely didn’t seem shy. Was Hunk confused?

“Anyways, it was nice meeting you, Lance. If you ever need help and Shiro’s not there, feel free to poke on my profile through the ‘Completed Jobs’ or ‘Notifications’ buttons and message me. ‘Kay?”

Lance nodded. “It was great meeting you, Hunk. I’ll see you around!” He exited through the door. 

\--

Two hours later, Lance had finally logged off of the game after doing various jobs for others. He had now gained a few Aquaintances, the game’s term for people that Lance had interracted with once or twice. Hunk had been added on there earlier, but Lance hadn’t noticed for some reason. Now, he had five people on his Aquaintances list- HGarrett, Xx.Kitty.Kat.xX, ItsNotAPhaseMom, NeonGlitch, and fvckyov.

NeonGlitch had seemed like the nicest person besides Hunk, seeing as they had thanked Lance and gave him something back, a nice charm that shielded the holder from dark magic. It had actually ended up as more of a trade than a job. Lance was thankful for their gift, however.

Now, with five Aquaintances and a Sol Count of 853, Lance was happy to unplug from the game and go to sleep, eager for tomorrow. He didn’t exactly have a job in real life, so what if he just got one in the game? Lance was pretty sure that Sol could be transferred into real life dollars (thank you, people that he had accidentally eavesdropped on earlier). He would just have to figure out how. 

Before he could think any more about the subject, Lance drifted off into a peaceful sleep, with dreams full of the charm NeonGlitch had gifted him.

\--

In the morning, Lance logged on to Universe almost immediately. He was eager to do some more jobs and save up to buy a house of his own. Maybe he could even join a Clan soon. 

Plus, doing jobs meant that he could learn about the world of Universe. 

The jobs ranged in difficulty, although the ones Lance chose were still easy due to his low level and lack of weapons. Many of them were collecting plants, or finding something. Lance was soon planning to buy a weapon, so he could upgrade to jobs that required a weapon.

Lance made his way to the job board, dodging a few other people who were walking around, grabbed a job, and quickly left. The board seemed to be attracting more people every second, and Lance didn’t want to be caught in a crowd, thanks.

Lance reviewed the job that he had randomly grabbed, and his eyes bugged out.

The job was one for Clan Voltron, one of the most powerful Clans in Universe. They were highly powerful, made up of seven primary members. Lance didn’t know their names, nor their usernames, or even what they looked like, but he had sure as hell heard of them.

Clan Voltron had many supporters, but it seems that in this job, they needed someone else…

An errand boy.

Honestly? Lance was willing to take this immediately. The only thing stopping him was the fact that he had just joined, and had nothing. He was level 2, after gaining the experience from the jobs he did yesterday, and Clan Voltron were supposedly on level 70 or higher. Level 100 was the highest anyone could get, and no one had ever managed to reach level 80. 

He was willing to try, though.

He sat down on a bench and pulled up his new ‘Messages’ tab, and sent Clan Voltron a message.

_Hey, Clan Voltron._

_I randomly grabbed a job from the job board and somehow ended up with this one? I would be happy to run errands for the Clan, but I just joined the game, and I have virtually nothing. This is a problem, isn’t it?_

_Since I am the only one who has received the job, is it possible to put this on hold while I gather supplies that would be useful for this? If not, that is okay._

_Thanks,_

_-the.tailor_

Lance gritted his teeth, and hit the ‘Send’ button.

He stood up, contemplating grinding for exp in the fields, but quickly sat down as his menu opened and dinged.

Clan Voltron had replied.

Lance exhailed shakily, and checked what the message said. 

_Hi, the.tailor._

_This is one of the paladins replying to you, Green. We don’t really have time for you to gather supplies right now, so we’ll gladly take you as you come. Plus, Clan Voltron’s whereabouts are a secret to the general public, and a low-level person like you would attract very little attention. The rest of Clan Voltron, in fact, is sitting here with me as I type this, and seem to agree with me._

_One of them doesn’t, but we can work around them._

_If you’re available, please reply back soon._

_-Clan Voltron_

“Whaaaaaaat,” Lance breathed to himself. Voltron would take him? No way. This was much more than he ever expected from this game. Too much, holy shit. 

He started typing out a reply.

_Wow. I never expected that answer._

_I’d be happy to work for you guys, but is there a catch? I literally just joined this game yesterday and I’m at level 2. That seems a little inconvenient for you guys, seeing as it would be suspicious if I were to purchase any high-level item from the shops. Are you sure this is okay?_

_-the.tailor_

Lance figured that he didn’t have to sign with his username, but he went with it anyway. It was okay, right?

The response came quickly again.

_Then, we would have you level and train slightly. It would only be fair, since you are running our errands. We could help you out a little bit, too._

_Are you okay with this arrangement?_

Holy fudge, Lance was more than okay with this arrangement.

_I am very okay with this arrangement._

Lance carded a hand through his hair, pushing it up slightly. Was this really happening? There’s no way it was really happening.

_We will need to meet and exchange usernames. Where are you currently located?_

Lance looked around him. A sign for Tonny’s Bakery stood proud and tall.

_I’m in the starting city near Tonny’s Bakery._

The replies were lightning-fast, and Lance began to suspect that the green paladin did more typing than just on this game. 

_I will personally come get you. In a few minutes, I will sit down on a bench next to you, whisper the word “coconut”, in your ear, and you will come with me. Clear?_

Oh my god, this was happening.

_Crystal._

Lance shut his menu, and Clan Voltron did not message him again. He moved himself to the bench more close to Tonny’s Bakery, and waited. 

Soon enough, a young girl who looked around the age of eight bounded up to the bench, tiredly slumping down near Lance. The girl had long, curly pigtails, and wore a nice green dress.

“Mister! Mister!” She chirped, pulling on Lance’s jacket. Lance grinned at the girl, amused at her antics. She pulled him closer, leaning to whisper that one word in his ear. 

“Coconut.”

The girl suddenly pulled Lance by the hand, leading him to an alley behind Tonny’s Bakery.

Making sure that no one could see them, the girl set something down, and backed up. It quickly changed into a shimmering rectangle, and the girl lept throught it, gesturing for Lance to follow.

The portal-thing felt weird and tingly, but when Lance looked around, he was no longer in an alley. He was, instead, in a meeting room of some sort.

The little girl from earlier started flashing, and morphed into a sightly taller version of herself…. except different. The person had gotten rid of their pigtails, and instead sported short hair that came down to their neck. They now wore glasses and gender-neutral clothing, making the person completely androgynous. Lance reminded himself to ask about their pronouns later. 

The person grabbed him suddenly and shoved him up against the wall.

“What’s your name?!” They barked, and Lance flinched. 

“Lance McClain!” He cried, trying to struggle against his restrainer. 

“Username?” The person ordered.

“The-dot-tailor! Please let me go!” Lance shouted, strangely immobile.

The person, oddly enough, did let Lance go, and he panted as he looked at the person.

“Sorry,” they grinned sheepishly. “I thought I grabbed the wrong person for a second.”

Lance was only a little bit confused.

The person held out their hand. “I’m the green paladin, the one who spoke to you earlier. My real name won’t be given to you until later, and the same goes with my username.” Lance nodded frantically, not underestimating this person because of their height.

“Now,” The person said, a stern look in their eye. “We’re going to have a small discussion. Got it? Whether you do or not, too bad. Have you heard of singular they/them pronouns?”

Lance nodded again. “Yep! I was going to ask you as soon as I could, no worries here.”

Green grinned. “Good. What are yours?”

Lance gulped. Was this necessary? “He/him...”

“Just want to be sure.” They started walking away, gesturing for Lance to follow them.

Lance quickly caught up to Green, sliding his hands into his pockets. “Where’re we going?” He asked.

“To meet the others,” Green simply replied.

\--

After a twenty-minute walk, they had finally arrived at a grand door. Green pushed it open with no hesitation. Lance, however, hesitated, which Green paid no mind to.

In the giant room were six individuals. Green led Lance to sit down near them, one of the people standing up. 

“I understand that you’re Lance McClain,” The man said. “I also understand that we’ve met before, and you might be a little surprised.”

Yeah, actually. The voice sounded familiar, and-

“Shiro?!” Lance exclaimed, and Shiro grinned sheepishly. A laugh emanated from Shiro’s side, and Lance looked to see-

“Hunk?! You too?”

“Hi, Lance,” Hunk waved, a small smile on his face. “Thanks for the timon. It really made the meal last night.”

Lance could only gape at him.

A woman with long white hair stepped up. “I see that you have already met some of us,” She said, British accent hanging onto her words. “I am Allura. My father founded Clan Voltron, and left it to me. Coran, here-“ She gestured to a man with a fabulous mustache. “-is Clan Voltron’s advisor. I coordinate missions and events.”

Shiro stood up just as Allura sat down. 

“I am the commanding officer of Clan Voltron. I give out orders and strategies, and the paladins- including me –follow them and criticize them. Green, or Pidge, is a paladin. So is Red, or Keith.” He nodded towards a figure at the end of the table. 

Keith narrowed his eyes at Lance, and Lance settled his gaze elsewhere.

Shiro continued talking.

“The last is Ellie. She’s been here for a while, keeping things clean, doing laundry, the likes. She’s a tremendous help. She’s the one to ask if you ever need anything.”

A girl with pink hair waved from across the room. Lance waved back.

“We can take you on a tour tomorrow. For now, Keith will take you upstairs and show you your room and the exp fields. We have a few of them reserved for our own use.”

Shiro sat down. “If you wish, you are all free to leave. I will discuss some things with Allura.”

Everyone started filtering out of the room. Keith grabbed Lance’s jacket and hauled him out, letting him go when they were in a separate hallway. 

“So.... what’s up?” Lance asked, trying to make conversation. 

Keith ignored him.

“You okay?” 

Nothing.

“Uh, Keith-“

“What?” He snapped, finally turning to look at Lance.

Lance gulped. “You okay?”

Keith sighed. “I’m fine. Thanks.”

Lance had a sinking feeling in his stomach. Was this the person Pidge had said had a problem with him? Great. Was he being annoying?

“Keith,” Lance began. “If it’s a problem about being annoying, I don’t have to bother you. I don’t want to get off to a bad foot when I haven’t been here more than an hour...”

“You can talk. I don’t mind.” Keith dismissed him curtly. 

“Then what am I doing wrong?” Lance asked.

“Nothing,” Keith replied. “I just don’t know you, and it’ll take a while for me to get to know you. Until then, I’m going to be an uptight bitch, so suck it up.”

They lapsed into an awkward silence. 

Keith sighed. Again.

“Look, I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable, but I agreed a long time ago that if we were ever going to recruit a new person, they would room with me, since I didn’t have a roommate. So... do you know what I’m getting at?”

Lance nodded. “Yeah. We have to share a room. I get it.”

Keith led him to the room.

It was a nicely sized room, one side empty. Keith’s stuff was strewn all over his side, treasures from missions long past. A few knives hung on the wall, gleaming and sharp. Lance wondered where he’d gotten those.

“Basic rules,” Keith interrupted Lance’s thoughts. “Don’t cross over onto my side of the room. Don’t mess with my stuff. That’s it.”

“I can follow those.” Lance confirmed. He looked at his side of the room. There was nothing but a bed. 

He guessed that he could go lay down on it and take a nap.

What he didn’t guess would happen, however, was the forced logout that occured when people tried to sleep in-game.

\--

Lance woke up hours later, confused and disoriented. Once he rememebred what happened, Lance immediately logged back into the game.

“Shiittttttt,” He groaned as he tumbled off the side of the bed. 

Keith looked up from his book to see Lance crash to the ground.

Lance glared at the floor. “What the actual hell,” he huffed. 

Keith snorted at him. “Welcome to Universe,” he said.

\--

Two days later, Lance was sent on his first errand. What was it?

To get some food.

Yep.

Apparently, Clan Voltron had forgotten to get food when they were out last, and Hunk had come down with some kind of cold. Since they had a strict no-sickness policy in the kitchen, it was decided that Lance would go and grab some food from the starter city’s food banks. Either that, or grab some ingredients from the mobs outside of the city and hope that someone could at least cook decently.

Lance sighed and continued on with his mission.

\--

Ellie was a nice girl. Well, demigirl, but still.

She was easygoing and possibly the funniest person Lance had ever met. Her pink hair made it so that she stood out from Clan Voltron, and her personality was matched with her hair color. It suited her, overall.

Lance had been taken by surprise, however, when she was quiet and caring with Pidge, soft touches and subtle gestures prompting Lance to ask if they were a couple later.

“Yeah,” she had replied. “I’m bi, and Pidge is gynesexual.”

(A quick explanation from Ellie told Lance that gynesexual meant the attraction to girls, no matter the gender orientation.)

“I started liking Pidge when they still identified as a girl. When they came out to everyone, I still liked them enough even if they were agender. I’m still bi, though.”

Lance had excitedly replied. 

“I’m bi, too!” Ellie had cocked an eyebrow.

“Really? I will have you know that I have a powerful gaydar and it has rarely failed me.”

Lance playfully shoved her. “I’m not attracted to girls at all. Nonbinary people and guys are the subjects of my affection. I hate when people say that that’s not bisexual, though. Bisexual means attraction to two genders, and- oh shit, sorry, I’m rambling.” He grinned sheepishly.

“Nah, it’s fine,” Ellie dismissed. “I know the feeling.”

They returned to cleaning up the castle, a job Lance helped Ellie out with just for the sake of it.

\--

_4 Months Later_

Lance gasped for air as he shot his targets over and over again. The heat was crushing, but that didn’t mean that he’d give under pressure. 

He just needed to shoot a few more targets to get his high score. Just a few more...

The alarm blared, shutting down his target system and making Lance groan. Of course the alarm had to sound just now. He was so close to getting his high score and to level 22... 

He had been making progress in his training. He had learned that he was nowhere as strong as Clan Voltron’s high-fifties levels (instead of seventies, as he’d thought before), but even Keith seemed impressed with his training progress. If that wasn’t something to be proud of, Lance didn’t know what was.

He brought up his menu and quickly deselected his armor and training gun, then ran to the meeting room. When the alarm went off, they were always in the meeting room, nowhere else. 

“Paladins!” He could hear Shiro’s voice call to them. “We need you to listen!”

Everyone quieted down. Allura took over.

“We have our worst mission coming up. We need to prepare effectively. A group of hackers, known as Clan Galra, have infiltrated the servers. We’ve received a message from Headquarters themselves to see that we take Clan Galra down.”

Hunk spoke up. “What did they do? There’s hackers all the time, and no one cares about that!”

Shiro’s and Allura’s faces were grim. 

“If anyone has watched Sword Art Online,” Shiro deadpanned, and Lance’s heart tightened. “then you know what they did. If you haven’t,” Shiro paused. “then look and just try to find your ‘Log Out’ button.”

Well, it looks like they were heck’t. 

“What’s going on?” Keith whispered to him, having just arrived.

“Clan Galra cut off everyone’s way to log out. If someone removes the StemNet from your head in real life, you’re killed. We have to defeat them or something to live. If you die in-game, you die in real life. I _knew_ Sword Art Online wasn’t a good anime. I _knew_ it would give people ideas-“ Hunk cut himself off.

“In times like this, I’m sure most of you are aware that there are not four paladins, but five.” Allura spoke up. “Normally, we would go and recruit a strong and brave warrior, ready to go in to battle at any given notice. However, there is no need to go find another paladin, as I believe we already have one.”

Allura looked at Lance.

“Lance, how would you feel about becoming our new blue paladin?”

Lance couldn’t think. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t blink, but he could somehow wheeze out the words “Yes, holy shit, yes,” and allow himself to be congratulated and hugged and whisked away into a new job, a new life.

He slept for the first time, in the bed in his and Keith’s shared room, and could confirm that it was maybe the softest thing he had ever slept in.

The forced log-out didn’t occur, and he woke up in the morning.

He was very delighted about the fact that he got to see the legendary bedhead that Keith sported. Of course, this meant teasing him relentlessly.

\--

Training was difficult, to say the very least.

Now that he was a paladin, everything was extra. Extra training, extra practice, extra meals, extra sore muscules. 

He had started training with a real plasma gun, quickly earning himself the sharp level of 29, a fast achievement- even to Shiro. He was proud of his progress, that was for sure, and he could tell that all of the others were as well. 

Lance had started to grow closer to all of the other paladins, and found that they were actually all related in age. Shiro was around 24, Hunk was 22, Pidge was 19, and Keith was the same age as him, 21. Lance was happy to note, however, that he was born a few months before Keith, and relentlessly planned for the day that he would turn 22 so that he could tease Keith with the old “when I was your age” joke.

It would rile him up for sure. 

Lance also never thought he’d admit it, but he and the other paladins were starting to become close friends. Pidge and Hunk excitedly discussed anime they had watched, and made salty comparisons about how the situation they were in was too closely related to Sword Art Online.

(“Maybe because Clan Galra took the inspiration to hack this game _from_ Sword Art Online,” Pidge had grumbled.)

He and Shiro shared jokes about being from large families, Lance having a family of six, and Shiro having one of four. While it was common for Cuban families to have large families, Lance found that it apparently wasn’t the same in Japan. Most families had one or two kids, so Shiro stood out with his family. 

(“We had triplets,” Shiro had smiled, remembering memories. “My mom was so furious. She wondered how we would be able to afford the triplets, but my dad got a sudden promotion, and we were okay. Their names were Ao, Eri, and Riisu. All sweet kids.”)

Strangely enough, Keith and Lance bonded over whatever they could talk about. They spent time sparring against each other, focused on honing Lance’s skills. They made expeditions into the nearby exp fields to grind exp and drops from mobs. When they weren’t doing that, they were usually laying down next to each other, just talking about whatever was on their mind.

That was how Lance accidentally outed himself to Keith.

Keith was talking about the love of his life, Mothman, and Lance had suddenly blurted out “I’m bi.”

He quickly realized that he had interrupted Keith in the middle of his sentence and thought of a suitable excuse. 

“Just- uh -in case you feel uncomfortable sharing a room with me now, you can kick me out, or whatever...”

Keith shrugged a little bit before closing his eyes and laying back against his arms. “I’m gay,” he said. “And even if I wasn’t, I’m not going to kick you out because of your sexuality.”

Lance exhaled. Even if he would never admit it, he had come to enjoy Keith’s company in their room more often than not. Surprisingly, if he found a topic that both he and Keith liked, he could get Keith to talk about it for hours. 

Later that night, as Lance was debating why, he figured out that he just really liked the sound of Keith’s voice.

Or, maybe Lance was just starting to like Keith in general.

 _That’s it,_ he thought as he drifted off into sleep. _I guess I could consider him my friend._

\--

Keith woke him up in the middle of the night.

“Hey, Lance?” He asked, poking at him until he woke up.

“What the hell,” Lance whispered, rubbing his eyes. “What time is it?”

“Two a.m.?” Keith whispered uncertainly. “Doesn’t matter to me.”

Something in Keith’s tone made Lance hesitate. This wasn’t normal. 

Lancce pushed himself up with one arm, the other reaching out for the shadowy figure of Keith who was standing next to Lance’s bed.

“Are you okay-“

“No, no I’m not, I know this is sudden but can I climb in there, please-“

Lance grabbed Keith by the arm and hauled him up and over the side of his bed, dragging him so that he was curled up into Lance’s chest. With Keith this close, he could feel how his friend was trembling, and Lance wrapped his arms around him in a hug. Keith returned the gesture, pressing his face into Lance’s neck and squeezing his back.

“Do you wanna talk?” Lance asked the red paladin softly, gently running his hands up and down his back in what he hoped was a soothing motion. He felt Keith shake his head against his neck, and ran a hand up his back to play with his hair.

“That’s okay. You’re okay.” He said, brushing through his hair and detangling it. Keith eventually began to relax in his arms, and they slowly drifted off to sleep together.

\--

Weeks passed, and each day, Keith had asked to come into Lance’s bed at some point in the night, eventually to the point where Keith would just climb in the same bed. Neither of them cared if they ended up spooning in the morning- it was a nice feeling, having someone beside you. Keith’s own bed hadn’t even been touched in around five days, and Lance felt that that number would only grow. 

For now, Keith and Lance just talked during day and cuddled at night, relishing the feel of each other in their arms.

\--

Lance made his first stupid mistake during training. 

(Then again, Pidge made a stupid mistake at the same time, but whatever.)

It was a training simulator. Shiro had sat this session out, since this particular setup had reminded him of fighting a war earlier in his life. It explained where he got the prosthetic arm. 

Enemies were coming at Lance, Keith, Pidge, and Hunk from all sides, rushing around them and shooting at them and hurting them-

Lance uncapped a few of his smoke grenades, tossing a few into the fray, taking out a few soldiers. He was ready to turn back to combat when-

“Lance! Your hand!” Someone cried, and Lance could only look down before he realized that oh shit, he was still holding one.

He wasn’t fast enough to throw it, and the smoke grenade exploded with a bang in Lance’s face.

\--

Keith’s face was the first one he saw after he woke up.

Everything was blurry and soft, no edges discernable. Lance couldn’t see that well, but he could make out a few very blurred faces.

“Guys,” He muttered, instantly catching everyone’s attention. “What’s u-“

Pidge was the first one to catch him in a giant hug, wrapping him up and squishing him to the point where it was hard for him to breathe. He simply chuckled and waitedd out the hug, however, letting each of the team crush him in their own hug.

Surprisingly, Keith’s hug was the tightest.

\--

Lance had a scar on his palm. It toook up practically his whole hand, and burned when he tried to touch it. Pidge had told him that it was still healing, which made sense, but it was a pain in the ass, because- hello -he needed his hands to do things.

Doing things with his left hand was bothersome for about an hour before he got the hang of it, earning jealous stares from Hunk.

“I really, really, don’t like you right now,” he said bitterly. “My right hand got injured in real life once. I couldn’t switch hands for the life of me.”

It was the only time that Lance ever saw Hunk being salty.

\--

Months passed. The team trained every minute they could. Keith and Lance still cuddled together in the nights. Everyone had fallen into a steady routine.

They were days away from the final stand. Clan Galra’s ranks had lessened, due to some of them getting banned and other Clans attacking them. Through reports passed up to Clan Voltron, they had learned that the leader of Clan Galra was a fearsome, towering entity, username simply being ‘Zarkon’.

No one had survived a fight with him. He was considered to be the very embodiment of death itself.

Clan Voltron was on the very verge of a breakthrough. They had gone on occasional missions to take out small sections of Clan Galra, seeing as they had memorized their coordinates. Clan Galra’s base was too large to move, too, so they wouldn’t have to go through the pain of switching coordinates. 

A raid was planned for Friday. 

Lance had never been so nervous. 

\--

With everyone silently preparing, there was more time for thinking than what anyone was used to. And boy, did Lance think.

Surprisingly, he thought about Keith the most, about his hair, his skin, his hands, his everything. The way he was shy most nights when they laid together, how he was fierce in everything he did, how his rare smiles lit up the room.

He thought about how a red blush settled on Keith’s cheeks and ears, how his touches were delicate, how he fit so perfectly into Lance when they slept.

Through these trains of thought, he came to a slow realization that he had a massive crush on Keith.

However, he vowed not to tell until they were either a) out of war or b) dying.

Guess which option happened first.

\--

“Red! Yellow! Green! Literally _anyone_!” He screamed, trying to thrash his legs, panicking when he couldn’t. He was stuck under a piece of Clan Galra’s base that had fallen over on him, and now Lance was fighting off Clan Galra members _from the floor._

He kept shooting at Clan Galra members, though, tears blurring his vision and making his aim slightly off. A Clan Galra member shot at him, hitting his arm and making him cry out in pain.

Lance had no choice but to let go of his gun, his arms weak. He was pinned and weak, with tears cascading down his face. He could hear some of the others call his name, but he knew it was too late. As much as he didn’t want to go, the gun had hit a major artery. 

He could feel the code which he relied on to stay in the game start to fade away. 

He gave up on fighting, and opened his and Keith’s messages.

 _I’m dying._ He sent.

 _no youre not,_ Keith’s reply came back. _we’ll save you_

Lance chuckled as tears rolled down his cheeks. _It’s too late. I’m sorry._

The disinegrating pixels had almost reached his elbow.

_If I can come back, I’ll log on on my sister’s account. Her username is hpfan135 and I’ll keep fighting with you guys. Or I'll come back here._

Lance could feel his mind start to let go. Summoning his remaining strength, he typed out a final message.

_I wish I could tell you that I have a major crush on you, godda_

Lance sent the message just as he faded away.

\--

When he woke up, he was in his bed.

The game didn’t kill you. He was safe.

Lance could feel tears of relief building up in his eyes. He could go back. He could warn everyone. He could save them.

A plan began to form. 

\--

Lance materialized in the world again. He was still pinned underneath rubble, but his team was there this time. All of them were crying, which made Lance’s heart pang. _Quick, think of something-_

“Miss me?” He asked, making everyone jump. 

“Lance!” Pidge cried, jumping up and giving him a tight hug. Everyone crowded around them, turning Pidge’s embrace into a tight group hug. Lance felt someone nuzzling into his neck.

When they all let go, he turned around to see Keith, tears in his eyes, smiling brightly.

Lance could only smile back at such a dazzling grin.

It quickly dropped off his face when gunshots rang out in the hallway.

“Guys,” he began. “I have a plan.”

And he explained. 

“I say we let us get killed. Broadcast that message to everyone fighting Clan Galra. We won’t die. When everyone’s gone, Clan Galra won’t have anyone to kill them. They can’t kill any former teammate, or commit suicide, so they won’t be able to die. They’d be stuck here forever.”

Ready, aim, fire.

Clan Voltron went out with a bang.

\--

Lance and Keith sat down next to each other, letting their feet dangle over the edge of Lance’s car. After the war, Keith had confessed his own feelings and Lance had arranged to drive down to Texas, where Keith lived. It had been the week of his life so far, but all good things had to come to an end. 

“I don’t want you to go,” Keith pouted, and Lance affectionately kissed the side of his head. 

“It won’t be long before we see each other again,” Lance protested. “New Universe comes out soon. All members of Clan Galra are banned- haven’t you heard?”

Keith looked up at him in surprise. “I didn’t hear, actually. Are you sure that’s real news?”

Lance nodded and wrapped an arm around his boyfriend’s waist. 

They sighed contentedly as Keith leaned into Lance’s shoulder.

\--

Lance shouted as he tripped over a passing cat on his way to the park bench where he had met Pidge so long ago. A low laugh sounded from behind him, and he turned to glare at the person, when-

“Welcome to New Universe,” Keith said with a smirk.

**Author's Note:**

> Any feedback is appreciated!


End file.
